one of the winning points to this manga is how some of the characters looking they're spazzing out when fighting and running. other than that i appreciate the story.

It's good, that is all.

This manga has everything. It has comedy, with really funny facial expressions, too. It has a large cast of characters you care about, who are complex and dynamic. It has plenty of action with an engaging strategic narrative like you'd expect of a good shounen. And it has powerful existential themes, which aren't just abstract, they're driven by real events and experiences.

The storyline is creative. New developments occur pretty frequently, but rarely with spontaneity, and they're never isolated experiences. It surprises me what the author does with the characters. The characters aren't just dynamic, they're incredibly dynamic, unpredictably so. Their emotional relationships, and the feelings of comradery, kindness, sadness, passion, and appreciation that pass between them, form the basis of the serious side of this story.

Although you often see characters running around zanily, the action itself is completely realistic. As it pertains to humans, at least (demons have more endurance and speed / physics-defiance). I thought for sure there would be a lot of unserious moments, where for comic or dramatic effect the rules would bent, but no. There are certainly what could be (meanly) described as deus as machina--unavoidable when the manga's pacing is so fast--but for someone who had never read a story before and knew to look for such things, they would experience zero breaks in their sense of realism, and I believe that's really saying something.

Volumes 25-30 of the manga were released after the 150-episode anime adaptation ended (I don't know what the anime covered, though), so I'm glad that a group (or groups, if Anime-Destiny were to also start releasing consistenly) is willing to take on this unique series, so I can see its to the author's intended conclusion, which I hope will be in the distant future.

Definitely worth checking out. The first few chapters are probably enough to give you an adequate sense of what the story's potential is. Not a masterpiece, but certainly a work of art, and one that's totally enjoyable.

I think the first time I ever even saw anime (didn't even know what anime was until like a decade later) was a few episodes of "Zatch Bell" or whatever the English dubbed version of this is called. I read this like 15-20 years later after just randomly thinking about that. I definitely didn't expect it to be one of the greatest manga I'd ever read. Easily the best one of these pokemon/Digimon/Yu-Gi-Oh/beyblade-esque adventure/battle type stories, and that's without the nostalgia.

As an adult reader myself, I grew up with Naruto, One-piece, Bleach, and other long-lasting shounen manga. I must say it's really hard for a shounen to bring all of the "friendship" theme without being boring and stupid by coming up with many one dimensional character, but Gash Bell is different. I read it as an adult male and I felt the emotion surging up in each later arc.

One thing I must say, the best shit from Gash Bell is the character development. It's one of the best manga that can depict how hard and amazing it is to grow from zero to hero. And of course, hero can't fight alone. It should and always be a company of heroes. This manga stick to it from beginning to end in a magnificent way.

For those who haven't read this, don't be discouraged by the cringe premise, weird character, and sketchy art in earlier arc. Stick to this and you may find the story get engaging in each chapter. For me, I think vol 8 is where it's all start to click together.

It has its absurdly hilarious chapter and it also has amazingly emotionally chapter. I ask no more and I'm satisfied. I wish the best for the author and the translator

... Last updated on July 5th, 2023, 12:15am

So I recently read this in the 2020s, the story goes through at a nice pace and there are nice slice-of-life moments between arcs to help with pacing with it.
The battles are great there are rules to help simplify battles and force the battle to be rather unique and no battle ever feels the same.
All the characters are quite fleshed out everyone gets a moment and no character ever feels like they haven't improved in this series.
There is no real big flaw in the story only minor setbacks.

Really like Raiku Makoto's brand of shonen. Great style of comedy, fun creative combat with well thought out powers and minimal asspulls, and a healthy dose of friendship and touching moments.

Overall this managa was a great read enjoyable with awsomely drawn effects and so on. I felt that the manga should have ending with the fido arc however. Everything would have fit into a perfect little circle leaving no questions unanswered and bringing all plots to a close. But no....there is the introduction of a demon called clear who for all purposes felt like something stuck on with stickytape to keep the manga going.

These is still 1 more volume left to read so i cant give my final verdict but it felt as if it shoulda ended a while ago. Its like eating something till your hearts content...but you have a few more mouthfuls just cause it tastes good. But it ends up making you feel sick. Shoulda quit while you were ahead lol.

The story is very simple, but that's the case for most shounen action manga.
The art has a unique style. At first I didn't like it, but after a while I became used to it. The mangaka's graphical jokes are great. The characters can be cool, or cute. (Especially some of the demon childs. Tio FTW)
The sytem and the representation of the fights are great.
The main character (Kiyomaro) is not stupid! Well at first he is a bit antisocial, but he overcomes it very fast, and after that he is cool.

I think this manga deserves to be put on the same level with some much more known and successfull action manga like Naruto or Bleach.

man this is fantastic